Funhouse [PA] * by Pink

Laughing On The Outside

Did anyone think we would be talking about Pink a decade after she came on to the music scene as a reasonably anonymous R&B singer?

Pink remade herself with 2001′s Missundaztood and has rolled along ever since, with a sound straddling the line between pop and rock much like Pat Benatar did twenty-five years ago.

Funhouse, Pink’s fifth album,  follows the same path as 2006′s I’m Not Dead. The songs are hooky as all hell, and Pink wails her behind off (someone should really start giving this girl props for her singing voice; even if she can’t act,someone at least needs to have her sing the vocal parts in any Janis Joplin biopic).

The difference on Funhouse is the theme around Pink’s recent divorce from motocross racer Carey (not Corey) Hart. Every song centers around bitterness, heartbreak or defiance.  Funhouse reminds me a lot of Kelly Clarkson’s 2007 album My December. Difference between the two? Pink’s sense of humor makes Funhouse go down a lot easier.

By now you’ve heard So What, a swaggering rocker in which Pink (sarcastically?) shrugs off losing her husband by claiming “I’m still a rock star!” You can almost see her laughing with her middle finger in the air during songs like this and Bad Influence (a song with a devil-may-care attitude that someone really needs to use in a rock musical), although there’s a catch in that throaty voice that makes you feel like maybe Pink’s not having as good a time as she says she is. Sober indicates as much, as she wonders sings “No pain inside/You’re like perfection/But how do I feel this good sober?”

Crying on the Inside

Funhouse has a deceptively upbeat dance/rock flavor (think Franz Ferdinand). Listen to the lyrics, though, and you’ll find that Pink isn’t exactly discussing a circus or carnival. “This used to be a fun house,” she sings, clearly directing her venom towards the end of her relationship.  At one point, she growls “I’m gonna burn this fucker down” with palpable rage.

The acoustic Crystal Ball is another winner, as is Mean, on which Pink tries on a new hat with a song that would sound right at home on country radio although I don’t think the profanity will get past the censors. She only takes one break from the breakup talk with the rockin’ (but lyrically somber) Ave Mary A, this album’s one attempt at a socially conscious tune.

[amazon-product]B001F0VHEM[/amazon-product]My one quibble with Funhouse is that it’s a bit overproduced.  Beautiful piano ballad Glitter in the Air shows what a great record Pink could make with a simple guitar, bass and drums. That quibble aside, Funhouse is one of those rare albums that is achingly personal and pop-friendly.

There are enough danceable tunes to keep the kiddies satisfied, and just about every song on the album has a killer chorus, but there’s a confessional singer-songwriter album lurking just beneath the shiny exterior. The ability to combine all of these elements into one coherent-and solid-album is what makes Pink one of the few to come out of the late-Nineties teen-pop boom to deserve the title of “artist”.

–M. Heyliger